State-by-State Winter Energy Fact Sheets

The Alliance to Save Energy has updated their state-by-state winter energy fact sheets for the 2008 – 2009 winter heating season. Each fact sheet describes how much home heating bills are likely to rise or fall compared with last winter’s bills, based on fuel costs in each state. Depending on heating fuel use, some homes will face higher costs, while others may see a decrease in heating expense. The sheets also provide energy efficiency tips to help cut heating and other home energy bills.

You can see the 2008 – 2009 Winter State Fact Sheets here.

The Tennessee Fact Sheet shows that home energy bills for Tennesseans using natural gas will rise about $65 compared to last winter and $80 for those using electric. As someone with an electric heater, I can vouch for the $80 jump.

The Fact Sheet offers some energy tips--like using space heaters and programmable thermostats--and is worth a look. The figure I found most interesting was:

By replacing their four most used bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, Tennessee households can save almost $110 over the lifetime of the bulbs.

CFLs usually last about two years. So that's a savings of $55 a year for just four bulbs. Not bad at all. People like me, with electric heaters, are looking for ways to cut down their overall electric bills to compensate for the inefficient and expensive heating!